Day #51:”A man of talent is not born to be left to himself”- Goethe.

At table, the ladies praised a portrait by a young painter. “What is most surprising,” they added, “he has learned everything by himself.” This could be seen particularly in the hands, which were not correctly and artistically drawn. “We see,”said Goethe, “that young man has talent; however,you should not praise, but rather blame him, for learning everything by himself.A man of talent is not born to be left to himself, but to devote himself to art and good masters who will make something of him.”– JOHANN PETER ECKERMANN, CONVERSATIONS WITH GOETHE

The passage is adapted from Robert Greene’s book- MASTERY. It focuses on why we all need great mentors and teachers if we want to be masters in our chosen field.Great people have great teachers. Alexander the Great had Aristotle the greatest Philosopher of his time, Da Vinci had Andrea del Verrocchio the greatest artist of his time before Da Vinci appeared, Michael Faraday had Humphry Davy the top scientist of his time before Faraday blossomed, just to mention a few.